Wardrobe luggage having separable case portions



Sept. 23, 1952 E TRIMBLE ETAL 2,611,463

WARDROBE LUGGAGE HAVING SEPARABLE CASE PORTIONS Filed Nov. 2, 1948 g NVENTOR. fSTHE/Q K ,Q/MBLE CHARLES R. X057 fiatented Sept. 23, 195 i WARDROBE LUGGAGE HAVING SEPARABLE CASE PORTIONS Esther K. Trimble, Piedmont, and Charles R.

Yost, Oakland, Calif.

Application November 2, 1948, Serial No. 57,856

' This invention relates to storage devices, particularly luggage of the wardrobe type, equipped with in-built hangers on which suits or the like garments may be hung to protect the latter against excessive wrinkling when the article of luggage is in closed condition and, when open, to afford ready access to the various garments stored therein.

An object 'ofthe invention is to provide an article of luggage of the class described having relatively separable outer case portions capable of selective utilization either as a combined'unit or as disconnected and remotely disposed com ponents, provided with'connector elements permitting ready separation'and attachment of the portions, the connector elements being arranged to serve as support elements to maintain the portions in positions of stability.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved separable connector elements, joining adjacent sections of a luggage case, which are arranged for ready connection with dissimilar connectors joining other remote portionsof the ca'seso that the case when opened may be rearranged with the rejoined sections lying in relative adjacency without inversion of one section cavity relative to the other.

"Yet another object of the invention is to provide, in an improved article of luggage of the character described; means permitting one or both sections of the luggage case to be hung from an elevated support so that the user will not be required to stoop or squat to-remove articles from the wardrobe or to replace said articles.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following descripti'onof the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by said drawings and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims. 1 7

Referring to the drawing;

Figure 1 is a perspective view, in bottom end aspect, of the improved wardrobe luggage of our invention. a I

Figure 2 is a view similar toFigure 1 but taken in upper end aspect. e

' Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a portion-of the luggage taken in the plane indicated by the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure'l-is a front elevational viewof the structure shown in "Figure 3.

3 Claims. (01. 190-41) Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the luggage sections disconnected and rejoined to fornr a dispensing unit. r

The features of construction comprising our invention are applicable to a wide variety of hand luggage or light trunks but We have chosen, for purposes of illustration, to depict their use in connection with the familiar type of valiselike article commonly referred to as 'afortnighter and equipped with garment hangers and suitable storage compartments capable of compacting and enclosing several complete changesof costume and otheraccessories: Here we have shown such an article of luggage comprising a body formed by superposed case and cover sections 6, and 1 respectively disposed incontiguous registration along a parting plane 8 defining the marginal rims of the storage recesses of the sections. Conventional lug and'recess fittings 9 and il respectively, as shown in Figure 5, are provided along the parting plane 8 at opposite sides of the body and which interengage when the 'case and cover sections are brought together to eifect proper registration between the sections. Fasteners l2,most generally of the type employing toggle loops 13, are provided at the upper end of the body, as shown in Figure 2, and bridge the parting plane 8 to secure together the registered sections. The portions of the fasteners l2, to which the loops l3 are attached, are preferably mounted on the case section 6 of the luggage, for a reason which will be later explained. Ordinarily the opposite or bottom end of the body, asbest shown in Figure 1, is fitted with common hinges which bridge the parting plane 8 and pivotally connect the 'case and cover sections so that the luggage maybe opened to expose therecesses of these'ctions in side by side relation.- In the space of an average day, a traveller may have recourse to his wardrobe luggage several times, either to effect a change of costume or to acquire some particular accessory. The conventional hinged wardrobe bag occupies entirely too much'space to'be conveniently left in an open fiatv condition, afiording ready access to the contents, and cannot be stood up vertically due to its top-heaviness and inherent instability. Therefore, what should be a relatively simpleprocedure usually evolves into the tedious and time-consuming task of opening the luggage, searching for and removing the desired article, replacing those articles removed in the quest for the formerarticle and reclosing the luggage." 1

' The improved-luggageof our-inventionobviates the above-mentioned undesirable features and, among other things, provides a wardrobe container which may readily be set up in a stable condition without occupying an inconvenient amount of room. As will be seen in Figures 1, 3 and 4 we provide a pair of quick detachable connectors each of which comprises a pair of metallic base plates I4 and I 6 which are respectively secured, by rivets I! or otherwise, in relatively confronting relation to the cover section 1 and to the case section 6 on opposite sides of the parting plane 8. The base plate l6 has formed therein a vertically narrow and horizontally elongated aperture I 8 which overlies a recess l9 formed in the end wall member of the case section B. The base plate I4 is provided with a tongue 2|, extending from the side thereof confronting the base plate It, which tongue is formed with a medial portion 22 bent angularly outwardly from the plane of the base plate l4, so as to permit the tongue to pass over the base plate l6 exteriorly of the latter, and with a distal end portion bent to lie at an acute angle with respect to the medial portion 22 so as to form a hook 23 extending through the aperture [8. The arrangement of the parts is such that when the case and cover sections of the luggage are engaged, as shown in Figure 3, the inner bend surface of the hook will lie snugly against the confronting side of the aperture l8 while an outer portion of the base plate I 6 will impinge against the side of the medial portion 22 which faces the outer side wall surface of the cover section 1. It will therefore be seen that, as viewed in Figure 3, if force is exerted tending to shift the cover 1 to the right longitudinally relative to the case section 6, the interengagement of the tongue 2| with the base plate I6 will prevent any displacement. If the force tends to move the cover toward the left relative to the case section, the resultant upward thrust of the case section against the rim of the cover section, by virtue of the base plate I6 riding up wardly along the inclined surface of the hook with which it is intimately engaged. will create a tight wedging together of the case and cover sections and will limit to a very slight degree the possible displacement therebetween. Deliberate detachment of the cover from the case section may be readily accomplished by releasing the fasteners l2, swinging the cover upwardly a matter of about forty-five degrees and sliding the hooks 23 rearwardly out of the aperture l8. If the luggage is standing in upright position, with the end thereof uppermost which carries the fasteners l2, relative separation of the sections may as readily be accomplished by loosening the fasteners, relatively tilting the sections away from each other and lifting the case section 6 so as to free the hooks 23 from their attachment apertures I8. A reversal of the procedure effects rapid reengagement of the sections.

An article of luggage, such as that above described, which is capable of separation into two independent sections, provides far greater flexibility of use and of handling than the conventional similar articles composed of integrally joined relatively hinged sections. In many instances, preparation of luggage fora trip requires that the contents be assembled from more than one location in the home, particularly if the same article of luggage is to be shared by two eople. With conventional luggage, this means rhaps half of the garments must be secured from one location and carried to the other at which the luggage is situated or the luggage after being partially filled at one location must be carried to the second location to complete the packing. Quite frequently, the operations of packing luggage are carried out by the lady of the house and the last-mentioned procedure imposes a severe burden upon her. Furthermore, the conventional luggage of unitary construction does not permit eflicient packing thereof simultaneously by more than one person so that the packing operation is unduly extended. Due to the fact that the respective sections of the improved luggage of our invention are relatively separable, one person may be engaged in packing one section while a second person packs the other section at the same or a different location without creating any hindrance to the operations of the first person. Relative separability of the luggage sections also affords the convenience, after the parties arrive at their destination, of one party being enabled to carry his or her belongings intact to quarters which may be separated from the quarters of the other party. In any event, the two sections of the lug age may be separated, rested in erect positions against a wall or other support, thus greatly minimizing obstruction to free movements of persons within the immediately surrounding space.

As shown in Figure 5, means are providedop'erable in conjunction with inherent structural parts of the luggage for permitting the two relatively separated sections to be rearranged and rejoined so as to be supported as a unit with the recess openings of the respective sections in side by side relation. The upper end of the cover section I, which carries the elements of the 'fas-' teners l2 cooperative with the locking loops i3, is fitted with a hanger ring 24 suitably pivotally connected to the cover such as by means of the leather strip 26 doubled to form an eye'2'l enclosing the band of the ring and suitably secured to the cover by stitching 28 or the like. By means of the ring 24, the cover section 1 may be hung from a closet clothes hook or the like in an elevated position wherein the contents of the luggage section may [be conveniently reached without the user being required to stoop or squat. -It will be noted that the relative spacing between the hook elements 23 is made substantially equivalent to that between the fasteners I2. This affords means whereby the loop elements I3 of the fasteners may be engaged, if desired, with the hook elements 23 of the elevated cover section I so that both luggage sections will thereafter be hung as a readily accessible unit with both recesses exposed in side-by-side relation. It will also be seen that the luggage sections, whenrejoined in unitary relation, as shown in Figure 5, are not reversed end-for-end from the positions they occupy when the luggage is in closed condition. It will be evident, by referral to Figure 5, that from said closed condition with the luggage resting in erect position on the supporting pads 29, the operations of, separating the sections as before described, raising the cover .section vertically and rotating the latter through degrees about a vertical axis, will bring the hooks into position to engage the loops l3 without having vertically inverted the cover section. This is of value since in many articles of wardrobe luggage the respective sections are equipped with inbuilt garment hangers at relatively adjacent ends which means defeats any attempt tohang such conventional luggage as shownin Flgurefi,

since the hangers of one section would be at the upper end of the recess while the remaining hangers would improperly be at the bottom end of the other recess.

It will be further noted that the base plates l6 and the protruding medial portions 22 associated with the base plates I4 serve as rest pads spaced from and cooperative with the pads 29 to lend stability to the respective luggage sections when the latter are being used separately and when they are placed in longitudinally erect positions.

It will be seen, from the foregoing description of our invention, that we have provided novel luggage construction characterized by greater flexibility of use than conventional lug a e of comparative types, by lessening inconvenience when the same luggage unit is shared by more than one person, and providing for disposition of the luggage sections as a conveniently assembled and elevated unit affording materially greater accessibility to the storage recesses of the respective sections.

We claim:

1. In a storage device having a case section having a chamber therein and a cover section engageable in a parting plane with said case section and closing said chamber, interlocking connector elements carried by the case and cover sections at one end thereof and bridging said parting plane, said connector elements comprising separate base members secured to said end of the respective sections, one of said base mem bers having an aperture therein overlying a recess formed in the end portion of one of said sections and the other of said base members being provided with a tongue extending toward and over said first base member and having a distal hooked end entering said aperture and recess and disposed to lie at a convergent angle with respect to said parting plane, said aperture being of a size just suificient to receive said distal hooked end of said tongue whereby relative movement of said sections normal to said parting plane is prevented, interengageable fastener elements carried by the case and cover sections at .another end thereof and bridging said parting plane for securing together said sections, and said fasfastener elements carried by the case and cover sections at another end thereof, said fastener elements having loop connectors arranged to bridge said parting plane and engageable with other portions of said fastener elements for securing together said sections, said loop connectors being mounted on one of the storage device sections, said hooked portions being mounted on the other of said sections, and said loop connectors having substantially equal relative spacing to that of the hooked portions whereby the latter may be engaged with the loop connectors when the sections are relatively separated so as to rejoin the latter in side by side relation.

3. A storage device comprising a case section having a recess therein, a cover section engageable in a parting plane with said case section and closing said recess, spaced interlocking connector elements, said connector elements comprising separatebase members secured to one end of the respective sections, an extension of one of said base members of each pair thereof extending toward the other base member of each pair thereof and provided with a hooked portion engageable with said other base member, spaced fastener elements carried by the case and cover sections at another end thereof, said fastener elements having p connectors arranged to bridge said parting plane and engageable with other portions of said fastener elements for securing together said sections, said loop connectors being mounted on one of the storage device sections, said hooked portions being mounted on the other of said sections, a ring member carried by said cover section at an end thereof opposite said hooked portion for hanging said cover section in an elevated position, and said loop connectors having substantially equal relative spacing to that of the hooked portions whereby the latter may be engaged with the loop connectors when the sections are relatively separated so as to hang the case section from the hanging cover section.

' ESTHER K. 'IRIMBLE.

CHARLES R. YOST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 144,022 'Engelsman Oct. 28, 1873 308,264 Klenha Nov. 18, 1884 1,101,357 Thompson June 23, 1914 1,219,468 Kossoy Mar. 20, 1917 2,223,676 Dinsmore et al Dec. 3, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 543,258 France May 31, 1922 

